RU2532289C2 - Light-class single-stage carrier rocket - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transport.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to space engineering and can be used in single-stage carrier rockets. Proposed rocket comprises power plant with one or several oxyhydrogen liquid-propellant engines, fuel tank, one or two jettisonable opposed extra fuel tanks arranged in tandem, one or two jettisonable add-on extra fuel tanks spacer and pipelines communicating fuel tank, extra fuel tanks and add-on tanks.

EFFECT: ruled out field of used fuel tank fall.

8 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the construction of launch vehicles and can be used in the development of single-stage launch vehicles to launch payloads into the orbit of an artificial Earth satellite (AES).

It should be noted that a single-stage launch vehicle in order to achieve orbital speed theoretically requires a final mass of not more than 7-10% of the starting mass, which even existing technologies makes them difficult to implement and economically inefficient due to the low mass of the payload. In the history of world astronautics, single-stage launch vehicles were practically not created - only the so-called one and a half-stage modifications (for example, the American Atlas launch vehicle with resettable additional marching engines). The presence of several stages can significantly increase the ratio of the mass of the payload to the initial mass of the rocket. At the same time, multistage launch vehicles require the presence of territories for the fall of intermediate stages (Material from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

The single-stage launch vehicle BP-190 is known, presented in the book by V.N. Kobelev and A.G. Milovanov "Means of launching spacecraft", 2009 (chapter 5, p.134).

The BP-190 launch vehicle was designed for vertical flight to a height of up to 200 km.

The principal drawback of the VR-190 launch vehicle was the inability to launch payload into the satellite’s orbit.

Modern work in the field of launch vehicles, based on the use of oxygen-hydrogen liquid rocket engines (LRE), has shown the beneficial effect of cryogenic fuel on the main characteristics of the launch vehicle.

An example is the Delta-4 launch vehicle (Boeing, USA), the first stage of which, according to theoretical calculations, can bring payloads to the satellite orbit without using the second stage and, thus, serve as a single-stage launch vehicle, although the payload will be small (Cosmonautics News. Volume 13, No. 1 (240), 2003, p. 46).

The aim of the invention is to eliminate this drawback.

This goal is achieved by the fact that a single-stage launch vehicle (Fig. 1, 2), consisting of a propulsion system with one or more oxygen-hydrogen liquid propellant rocket engines 1 and a fuel tank 2, is equipped with one or two additional fuel tanks 3, which are in tandem (longitudinal ) the circuit is sequentially located on the fuel tank 2 with the help of a spacer 4, inside which a payload 5 is installed and, in addition, the launch vehicle is equipped with a packet (parallel) circuit with one or more pairs of mounted diametrically opposite fuel tanks 6 located relative to each other, while the fuel tanks 7 and 8 and the oxidizer 9 and 10 of the fuel tanks 3 and 6 are respectively connected by pipelines 11, 12 and 13, 14 with the fuel tanks 15 and the oxidizer 16 of the fuel tank of the launch vehicle 2.

During the operation of the propulsion system 1 and the intake of fuel from the fuel tanks 15 and the oxidizer 16 of the fuel tank of the launch vehicle 2, the fuel is simultaneously supplied to these tanks from the fuel tanks 8 and the oxidizer 10 of the first pair of mounted tanks 6 diametrically opposed to each other.

After the generation of fuel from the first pair of outboard fuel tanks, they are separated and the fuel is simultaneously taken (FIGS. 3, 4) and the oxidizer from the next pair of outboard fuel tanks.

After separating the last pair of mounted fuel tanks, a single-stage launch vehicle uses fuel from the fuel tank 3 (FIGS. 5, 6).

After generating fuel from tank 3, a single-stage launch vehicle uses fuel from its own fuel tank 2 until it enters the satellite’s orbit with further separation of tank 3 (Figs. 7, 8).

The technical result of the invention, based on the use of additional fuel tanks in tandem and batch schemes located on the fuel tank of the launch vehicle and discharged during the flight, is the creation of a new class of environmentally friendly single-stage launch vehicles of a heavy class that can bring payload to the satellite orbit and being an economical and reliable transportation system. At the same time, the nomenclature and number of expensive rocket engines used in a single-stage launch vehicle are reduced, and the problem of choosing the launch site of the launch vehicle and drop fields is practically eliminated, since the mounted fuel tanks are made of aluminum alloys and other materials that burn in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Claims (1)

A heavy-duty single-stage launch vehicle consisting of a propulsion system with one or more oxygen-hydrogen liquid rocket engines and a fuel tank, characterized in that the single-stage launch vehicle is equipped with one or two additional fuel tanks, which are arranged in series in a tandem (longitudinal) layout on the fuel tank of the launch vehicle with a spacer, and, in addition, the launch vehicle is equipped with a packet (parallel) circuit with one or more pairs of diametrically fuel tanks that are opposite relative to each other, while the fuel and oxidizer tanks of the additional fuel tanks are connected by pipelines to the fuel tanks and the oxidizer of the fuel tank of a single-stage launch vehicle, while the side mounted fuel tanks are installed with the possibility of separation after the fuel is exhausted, additional tanks with the possibility of branches.

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